Students Showcase Original Work at the Eighteenth Annual Bronx Community College Film and Video Festival

Bronx Community College student filmmakers pose with faculty, sponsors and staff at Clearview’s Chelsea Cinema for the 18th Annual Bronx Community College Film & Video Festival. Photo courtesy of Thomas Donley.

July 1, 2011 - Students of the Media Technology program at the Bronx Community College showcased their own five minute short films at the 18th Annual BCC Film and Video Festival, which took place on Wednesday, June 8 at Cablevision’s Clearview Cinema.

The annual festival brings together ambitious students and industry professionals to celebrate films and the process of filmmaking. Dr. Debra Gonsher, chairperson of the BCC Department of Communication Arts and Sciences, was given special thanks for her continued support of the festival. Production executives from the Eastman Kodak Company, Cablevision’s Clearview Cinema, Avid Technology, the Independent Film Channel, Panavision, Barbizon Lighting and many other companies were on hand to screen the films and present awards.

“You can see so much heart up there on the screen,” said Prof. Jeffrey Wisotsky of the Bronx Community College CAS Media Technology Program. “This was a very special evening for all of our BCC filmmakers.”

Among the other aspiring student filmmakers honored with awards were: senior Brian Zabala, who was honored with the second Steve Garfinkel Memorial Award for Excellence in Media; Natalie Setoute, who received the Media Technology Marie Nesbitt Promise Prize; Jason Delgado, who was presented with the Avid Technology Award for excellence in Television Non-Linear Editing; and Jeffrey Pompilus, Jason Delgado, Andres Cerezo, Carl Zumatto, Jeremy Deliotte, Juan Rodriguez and Natalie Setoute, who were the recipients of the Peter J. Rondinone Screenwriting Memorial Award.

“June 8, 2011 will always be remembered for me as a day of great achievement, not just by myself, but by my fellow classmates and the Bronx Community College Media Technology Program,” said Brian Zabala, President of the Media Technology and Film Society Club and a Media Technology graduate.

A larger film festival with screenings open to the public will take place during the fall 2011 semester.